Today
by Cordelia Rose
Summary: Merlin knows today's the day. What happens every five years will happen again today. It's painful and brutal, but how will he cope with an audience, even if he doesn't know it? Two-shot. No slash. Serious Merlin whump.
1. Chapter 1

_A random idea that wouldn't go away until I wrote it. Leave a review when you've read, with nice things, or how you think I could improve it, ect._

The moment he woke up he realised it was the day. It was an odd feeling; not unlike his magic, which he could feel constantly moving round his body, as natural as veins and arteries, but not actually that similar. It was a feeling like he had some kind of infectious parasite zipping around his body; it was there but he couldn't put his finger on the exact spot. It was infuriating, like an itch that never seemed to fade, and appeared in the strangest of places, only to dwindle away to another patch as you scratched it. It was currently in his back, brushing light fingers against his fragile spine. Merlin arched his back and rolled over, still half-asleep, and fell out of bed with a yelp. He lay winded on the floor, looking confusedly around him. Gaius burst through his door, one eyebrow raised impressively high, even for him.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Gaius demanded, kicking a boot out of the path as he made his way to his ward and surrogate son.

"I fell out of bed," Merlin said, and glanced round doggedly still.

"I can see that," Gaius frowned as he helped Merlin up and sat down on the bed beside him. "What I meant was why did you feel out of bed?" Then as he studied the man in his mid-twenties before him, he noticed a sheen of sweat across his forehead. "You're burning up! You've got a fever," Gaius exclaimed, trying to put a head on Merlin's head.

"Gaius! I'm fine, honestly." Merlin pleaded with Gaius to understand. There wasn't a cure for this; it was just something that would happen and pass.

"I'll tell Arthur you're not well," Gaius said, already walking to the door.

"No!" Merlin said. He surged to his feet and grabbed the end of the bed when light-headedness took over. "I'm fine. It's just a bit hot in here." The tone of his voice had convinced Gaius he was intent on serving Arthur today.

"Fine. But take it easy, do you hear?" Merlin nodded and Gaius left, already making a mental note to keep an eye on him. He was acting weirdly today, no doubt. Normally he'd do anything for a day off, considering how hard Arthur worked him, but when he actually was ill?

***

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock-knock-knock! "Alright Merlin, you can come in!" Arthur's irritated voice echoed from under the bed covers and Gwen giggled slightly, gathering her hair in an untied knot at the nape of her neck and using it as a cushion against the hard, wooden back board.

"Well, I didn't want to walk in on-well, yeah," Merlin blushed a bright red and set the two breakfast plates down on the table.

"You've never walked in on us-Merlin!" Arthur emerged from the sheets and suddenly looks very nervous. "Merlin, do you mean to say that you've walked in on…us…" Merlin nodded cheerfully, and Arthur went a bright pink and buried his face in his hands. Gwen, on the other hand, laughed until she could barely breathe. Merlin smiled wearily at both of them and Arthur took a closer glance at his insanely loyal manservant, who was leaning on the table for support, to stop his legs from collapsing under him.

"You all right?" Arthur said, the concern in his voice audible. Merlin blinked, focused on Arthur and nodded. "Meet us down on the training grounds in half an hour. I need you to polish some armour." Merlin nodded once more and backed out. He kept his face calm on the outside, but inwardly he was eternally glad that he wouldn't be the personal target, and instead could sit. Although it required elbow grease it wasn't as half demanding as usual training.

***

"Is he alright?" Gwaine asked, as he shaded his eyes to glance over to where Merlin was sitting, polishing a sword with long, effortless strokes.

"I don't know. He seems a little…off." 'Off' seemed to be the only word to describe it.

"He doesn't look well," Percival joined in.

"I don't think he is," Arthur sighed. "But he insisted on coming in."

***

"How was work today?" Gaius asked as soon as Merlin walked in the door.

"Good. Arthur gave me jobs that were actually manageable today." Merlin grinned and shut the door behind him. He turned to face Gaius when a sudden, crippling pain hit him. It started in the pit of his stomach and slowly snaked up to his chest, and he suddenly found he couldn't breathe easily, like tendrils had wrapped themselves round his lungs. Luckily for Merlin Gaius wasn't looking up as he doubled over, managing to stay upright, but only just.

"Gaius?" And to his surprise, his voice sounded normal.

"Yes, my boy?"

"I'm going out. With Gwaine. He invited me to the tavern." Merlin invented wildly, hoping he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.

"You planning on getting blind drunk?"

"I'm planning on dragging Gwaine home when _he_'s blind drunk."

Gaius chuckled and waved a hand, telling him he could go.

***

The tree roots threatened to trip him at every step; his couldn't see where he was going, what with the inescapable pain rendering him sightless. He was causing such a racket, snapping twigs, reducing crispy leaves to dust, that he didn't hear the whispers behind him, the occasional groan of fragile land as a big, burly knight stepped on it. The pain had him firmly in his hand now; it was squeezing him, playing with him, and needless to say, he didn't like it. A tree came up in his path and he stumbled to the left to avoid it, clutching at his stomach, where the worst of the pain seemed to be.

***

"Everyone ready?" Arthur said, from his post by the window, where the figure of Merlin was just about viewable in the dim light. He wasn't walking normally; it wasn't totally tripping or lame, either, but Arthur knew that this wasn't his normal walk. He looked…in pain. "Then let's go." He said, at everyone's nods.

Well? What did you think? I'll be putting the next chapter up. Unless I don't fit everything into that one, it'll be a two-shot.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

_Warning/s: Quite graphic descriptions. _

_A/N: Sorry this took so long…I had it all written, then I deleted it all, then did that several times because I wasn't happy with it. Still not, but I'm just going to put this up and hope for the best._

_Disclaimer: I own Merlin. So, logically, I am writing fanfiction and not putting this into one of the episodes._

_TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY_

Tantalizing pain ripped through his body. It seemed to be mocking him; as soon as he managed to pinpoint where the most extreme pain was it shifted away. He felt the skin crack and shred on his back; the very thought of what it looked like made him nauseous but the blinding haze of agony distracted him. He felt his bones move, the ribs making a fairly unpleasant cracking and clicking sound as they slowly disjointed and then moulded themselves together again. The increasing amount of torture forced him to close his eyes as tight as he could and doing likewise with his mouth, suppressing the yell that he so wanted to let out.

Merlin's legs finally gave out as his ankle joints cracked apart and slotted back together again. The kneecaps were perhaps the most painful; they slowly, almost hesitantly broke themselves apart and then stretched out their fibres to join up with their original placeholders. Slowly, his thighbones loosened and reconnected painstakingly slowly. His pelvis cracked and then realigned. From his position on all fours his arms slid out from under him, his elbow joints making a sickening crunch as they broke off, finally leaving him on his side. His arms pieced themselves back together, each single tiny bone of his hand having broken off, swirled around for a little while – which was a _very_ weird feeling – before they zoomed back to their places, occasionally bumping into each other. But then they'd fused together, all the weird feelings disappearing and replaced by molten pain.

_Please let me pass out soon,_ Merlin thought to himself. _I don't want to have to do my head while I'm still conscious again._

The pain had reached his neck, the extreme and vast quantity of it causing him to bite on his lip so violently he'd drawn blood. Not that it mattered; he had worse to deal with.

Pain traced its cold, merciless fingers up the base of Merlin's skull and began its descent. His skull cracked in one, fluid motion and suddenly his world went black.

_TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY_

It was a strange place, Limbo. Neither here nor there – really, it shouldn't have existed.

Yet here he was.

It was very white, but also very dark; the two contrasting shades swirled with each other, twisting in the air around him.

"Emrys," said a voice behind him.

He turned, devoid of any pain his material body was feeling. That body existed on the first plane of existence; he was currently on the seventh, he knew that.

The woman who had spoken wore an icy-coloured dress; it had varying layers of palest blue and sharp white. Her hair was also white, and flowed down her back like a curtain of snow. Her lipstick, in contrast, was black, and it coated her mouth like a dying man clinging to a friend.

"You must decide your fate, Emrys," she said.

"What do you mean?" Merlin demanded, slightly wary of the woman.

"I mean, that your _friends_" – she gave it an ironic twist for whatever reason – "just witnessed your…transformation, for lack of a better word. When you wake, they'll want to know what happened.

"Now you must choose what you are going to do. Will you, mighty Emrys, tell them?" She strode around him in a wide circle, smirking with the dark smile of liberty. "Or will you lie, as you always do? Speak up!"

Merlin made a snap decision. "I will tell them," he whispered.

"I'm sorry – I didn't quite catch that."

"I will tell them," Merlin said louder, voice ringing out in the barren lands of nothing.

"Right answer," smiled the woman, looking gratified. She made a sweeping motion with her right hand and a void opened. She invited him to step through it with a gesture.

As Merlin stepped through, he called back, "Wait! Who are you?"

She laughed softly, a tinkling sound, and whispered, her voice like balm to a wound, "Arianrhod. My name is Arianrhod."

_TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY_

"Merlin?" Arthur asked, watching as the man's eyelids fluttered.

"Arthur?" Merlin quizzed groggily, blinking a few times.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled excitedly.

"Arthur!" Merlin mocked Arthur's tone, only quieter.

"Gwaine!" Gwaine shouted. "I felt left out."

"That's lovely Gwaine."

"How are you feeling?" Arthur asked, concern lacing his voice.

"Like I've been dismembered and then put back together." _Hey, that's kind of the truth!_ "So not great."

"I can imagine…what did actually happen back there…with the…" Arthur gestured awkwardly towards Merlin's left, and Merlin moved his head from his position on the floor without moving otherwise. There, he could see the patch where he had his 'transformation', as Arianrhod had put it. Speaking of which…

"I had a…I don't know what it is." Merlin rubbed his face tiredly. "Basically, every five years, my body overflows with the excess magic and it kind of…breaks my entire body and then puts it back together again."

"What?" Arthur exclaimed.

"We agree; no more secrets, Merlin," Gwaine said.

"I know. Sorry." Merlin sat up hesitantly. He could see the horses in his peripheral vision, and Leon, Percival and Elyan.

"So this happens every five years?" Arthur questioned, drawing Merlin's attention back to him.

"Pretty much…not pleasant."

"Let's get back to Camelot – hopefully Gaius will be able to give you something."

_TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY_

They set off, laughing and talking and joking, and for the first time that day, Merlin forgets the pain.

And smiles.

_TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY_

_A/N: Reviews? Pwetty please?_

_And Arianrhod is a Celtic goddess. I just kind of stole her because I liked the name._


End file.
